Parliament's
finance and expenditure select committee yesterday began hearing some
of the almost 600 submissions it received on legislation to enact the
Government's controversial mixed- ownership model.

The
Government plans to sell up to 49% of Mighty River Power, Genesis and
Meridian, and further reduce its shareholding in Air New Zealand,
although it does not need to pass new laws to sell shares in the
airline.

People
Power Ohariu was formed after last year's election to convince
UnitedFuture leader and MP for Ohariu Peter Dunne to vote against the
bill.

Dunne
has the deciding vote. If he and ACT leader John Banks support it,
the Government has the numbers to pass legislation by 61 votes to 60.

Her
voice breaking and close to tears, People Power Ohariu spokeswoman
Ariana Paretutanganui-Tamati told the committee the sales were
"nothing less than treachery".

"It
is absolutely ludicrous that in our country a group of 61 people can
make decisions that have serious, serious, implications for our
country and our children's future and our land."

The
group was concerned about the impact on power prices, with already a
quarter of New Zealand children living in poverty and elderly people
dying of health complications in cold homes they could not afford to
heat, she said.

Her
concerns were echoed by Grey Power.

Spokeswoman
Molly Melhuish said an Economic Development Ministry comparison
showed that consumers with state-owned energy companies paid on
average 3.31 cents less per kilowatt for their power than those with
private companies.

That
meant consumers with private companies paid $265 more a year.

People
Power Ohariu spokesman John Maynard said it was particularly
concerned about the Trans Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement
being negotiated among New Zealand, the United States and at least
eight other countries.

"The
deal could open the Government up to being sued by a foreign investor
with as little as a 1% share in energy companies," Maynard said.

Wellington
orthopaedic surgeon Russell Tregonning is the spokesman for OraTaiao:
New Zealand Climate and Health, which represented 150 doctors around
the country.

He,
along with other submitters, raised concerns that partially
privatised energy companies would not face the same requirements as
state-owned companies to take climate change into consideration.

The
World Health Organisation rated climate change as the No1 health
threat this century.

Tregonning
said his plea was also deeply personal.

"I'm
a grandfather and I have fears for the world they will inhabit."

It
was an often-testy session with arguments between National and Labour
MPs joined by NZ First leader Winston Peters, with submitters often
caught in the middle as MPs asked loaded and pointed questions.

Labour
MP Trevor Mallard objected to individual submitters being given just
five minutes to put their case, when organisations were given 15
minutes.

All
45 of yesterday's submitters were opposed to the asset sales.

Gordon
Copeland, who led the now-defunct Kiwi Party, said he supported
partial asset sales but said shares should never be sold to
foreigners.

Struggling
families will suffer because of higher power prices as a result of
the Government's "mixed ownership model" and few "mums
and dads" have cash to buy shares in the partly privatised power
companies, MPs have been told.

Parliament's
finance and expenditure committee yesterday heard dozens of
submissions on the partial privatisation or Mixed Ownership Model
Bill which paves the way for the sale of up to 49 per cent of shares
in Mighty River Power, Genesis Power and Meridian Energy, and coal
company Solid Energy.

The
submissions were overwhelmingly against the plan.

Sarah
Free of the Domestic Energy Users Network said she was representing
the children of poor households who would lose out under the policy.

Parents
of those children were struggling with their household budgets and
attempts to save money on power bills meant their children were
"suffering from underuse of energy" in the form of
preventable illnesses linked to poorly heated homes.

Ms
Free said the three publicly owned energy companies were doing much
more to help poorer consumers than the private sector companies but
she feared that would be undermined if they were partly privatised.

National
MP Tim McIndoe said investors, including "mums and dads",
had lost up to $6 billion in finance company collapses and the
partial privatisation plan would give them the opportunity for a
solid investment.

However,
while Ms Free said there needed to be better investment
opportunities, shares in partly privatised power companies would be
unaffordable for many households.

"How
are very indebted private households going to buy into these? Those
people can't even afford to have a leaky roof repaired, or replace an
unflued gas heater that's 20 years old nor can they afford to put in
insulation even with a very generous subsidy.

"They
have absolutely no spare money."

Submitting
on behalf of Grey Power and the Domestic Energy Users Network,
consumer advocate Molly Melhuish said she'd attended at least two
public meetings where Prime Minister John Key said privatisation
would have no effect on power prices. "I challenged that and he
said 'you're wrong'."

But
Mrs Melhuish presented data she said proved that on average domestic
customers of privately owned electricity companies paid about $265
more than those with state companies each year. She said the mixed
ownership model should not proceed until key regulatory issues in the
market were addressed, including the "free market pricing"
which enabled energy intensive industries to expand "at the
expense of higher prices to domestic consumers".

Ngati
Porou's Apirana Mahuika, Matanuku Mahuika and Horiana Irwin said
Treaty provisions were not sufficient to protect Maori interests and
the law should not proceed without alterations.

However,
although Ngati Porou opposed the asset sale plan, should it go ahead
the iwi wanted changes to allow it to participate more fully,
including the removal of the 10 per cent shareholding cap for iwi
consortiums.

Few,
if any, of the 45 submissions heard yesterday were from supporters of
the legislation. Labour MP David Parker said that was because "it's
abundantly clear that they would be quizzed on the now indisputable
fact that the Government is worse off through the SOE sales, by $94
million per annum and it's clear that New Zealand residential
consumers will face increasing power prices".

SUBMISSIONS

*
Dozens of submissions were heard yesterday on the partial
privatisation or Mixed Ownership Model Bill.

*
This paves the way for the sale of up to 49 per cent of shares in
Mighty River Power, Genesis Power and Meridian Energy, and coal
company Solid Energy.